Unfortunately, there are some common types of online advertising that tend to aggravate users, rather than inspire them. Let’s take a look at some of the methods we think you should avoid…

Pop-ups and pop-unders

Overlaying a website with a pop-up was a popular method in the late nineties and early noughties, but times change and as marketers, we have to change with them. With digital success now much more strongly focused on user experience (UX), these old strategies have truly become old hat. Serving up ads that essentially takeover the site the user has chosen to visit will generally get ignored. Yes, you’re still getting your message in front of users, but you’re more likely to earn a negative reputation from pop-ups than generate quality leads.

Much the same goes for pop-under ads too. While it’s not as immediately disruptive to the user experience, finding an ad live on your computer after shutting down your browser feels invasive. Plus it’s difficult to tell which site the ad was generated from if you’ve been browsing multiple sites. Avoid these outdated digital advertising technique at all costs!

Video ads with autoplay feature

There’s nothing wrong with video ads per se, but once again, it really comes down to user experience. Let’s face it, nobody wants to be scrolling through a site and suddenly find they’re distracted by a loud video that they’ve not even chosen to watch. It’s invasive, it’s disruptive and it’s very very annoying.

To get the best results from online video advertising, you need to try and ensure you’re targeting the right audience, disable automatic audio features and enable users the choice to switch off any autoplay function. These things aren’t always in your control though, so make sure you know exactly how and where your ad is going to be displayed before you part with any money.

Hidden ‘close’ functions

If you’re going down the digital advertising route, one thing that’s sure to frustrate users is preventing them from quickly closing an ad if it’s not of interest – this can apply to both standard pop-ups and also the type that expand across the entire screen when your cursor accidentally rolls over it.

It’s one thing to ‘force’ your products in front of someone, but it’s quite another to make it frustratingly difficult to get rid of the ad when it’s not welcome.

Clickbait ads

In an ideal world, if we click on an ad, we get taken to a web page that’s clearly relevant to the ad content – but it’s not an ideal world, especially when it comes to poorly thought-out digital advertising!

If you’re making a claim, presenting an offer or providing a promise that the target page doesn’t fulfill, just don’t do it. Clickbait is far too common these days, and users are very rarely happy about it!

Digital advertising support

Digital advertising done well can be a real boon to your marketing strategy, but get it wrong and you’ll be earning entirely the wrong kind of reputation. If you need any help with your digital advertising, our expertise and skills will ensure you get great advice and a strategy that really works.